How Anime is Actually Made: Behind the Scenes of Your Favourite Shows

Watching an anime can be a breathtaking experience. The colours, movements, emotions, and music all come together to create something truly special. But have you ever wondered how it all comes to life? Creating anime is a complex and time-consuming process that often takes a year or more to produce just 12 episodes. It’s not just the work of one or two people, but a huge team working in harmony over many months.

Here’s a simple overview of the three main stages of anime production:

1. Pre-Production
2. Production
3. Post-Production

Each stage plays a critical role in turning ideas into the animations we love to watch.

Pre-Production: Setting the Foundation

Before animators start drawing frames, the project begins with a solid plan. This is where the director, producer, and episode director gather to decide who will take part in the production. The team can be anywhere from 50 to 100 people, each with a specialised role.

Some of the key team members include:

• Character Designer: Creates the detailed appearance of characters.
• Animation Supervisor: Oversees the animation quality.
• Key Frame Animator: Draws major action poses.
• In-Between Animator: Draws frames between key poses.
• CG Director: Manages computer graphics and 3D elements.
• Art Director: Designs backgrounds and overall visual style.
• Color Selector: Chooses colours to maintain consistency.
• Sound Director: Handles voice acting and sound design.
• Voice Actors: Provide voices for the characters.
• Plus many other artists and technical staff.

Once the team is set, the scriptwriting process comes next. The director, producer, story writer, and original series author work together to draft scripts for each episode. This forms the backbone of the story.

Following scripts, the storyboard is created. This is a sequence of drawings showing major scenes and often includes notes on dialogue, music, sound effects, and camera work. Storyboards give everyone a visual guide of how the episode will flow and what will happen on screen.

Next comes the visual design. The Character Designer finalises character details to guide animators during production, ensuring each character looks consistent episode after episode. At the same time, the Art Designer creates backgrounds, props, vehicles, and other visual elements to bring the setting to life. The Color Designer chooses the main colour palette to be used by the finishing team, making sure colours stay consistent before digital colouring became the norm.

For those curious about manga adaptations, this process closely relates to how anime translates manga panels into fluid animation, capturing both dynamic action and expressions. You can find a great guide about insights into manga adaptations if you're interested.

Production: Crafting the Animation

This stage is where the animation actually starts to form, divided into several important groups to keep everything moving smoothly.

Support and Management

The Production Manager and Assistant Production Manager make sure everything stays on time and within budget. They coordinate all the different sections, track progress, and help move materials from one team to the next. Their responsibilities include:

• Monitoring schedules.
• Managing budgets.
• Ensuring deadlines and milestones are met.
• Communication between departments.

Animators Group

Animation is a detailed skill, where two main roles work together:

• Key Frame Animators: These highly skilled artists draw the main “key” poses in a scene. These frames mark important moments of movement or expression.
• In-Between Animators: To create smooth motion, these animators fill in the frames between key poses. They clean up line work and follow timing sheets set by key animators.

This collaboration brings characters and scenes to life in vibrant motion. Picture it like the skeleton and muscles of animation — key frames set the bones, and in-betweens add the flesh.

Quality Control

The animation quality is carefully reviewed in layers:

• The Animation Supervisor checks and corrects layouts and drawings from key animators.
• The Chief Animation Supervisor provides a second layer of quality control before the work moves on to the supervising animation director.

These steps keep the animation sharp and on point.

Computer Graphics (CG)

Many modern anime now combine traditional 2D animation with 3D elements.

• The CG Director oversees all CG work to ensure it matches the hand-drawn style.
• CG Artists build 3D models and textures.
• CG Animators animate these models and assemble scenes using software.
• 

Technology helps blend these elements smoothly into each episode.

Finishing Team

• Background Artists paint the environment based on key animator layouts.
• The Art Director supervises background art to keep style consistent.
• Color Selectors apply colours to scenes based on the palette set earlier.

Together, they add depth and richness to every frame, ensuring the world feels alive.

Final Checks

The Supervising Director of Animation inspects all animation to make sure it fits the storyboard and character designs before sending it to post-production.

For insights on the role design plays in anime openings, which are part of the overall visual experience, the article on elements of a great anime opening is a great read.

Post-Production: Adding Sound and Final Touches

Once the animation is complete, the focus moves to sound and effects.

Audio Work

Sound brings characters fully to life. Key roles include:

• Audio Director and Soundtrack Composer: They create music and background scores that fit the mood perfectly.
• Sound Effect Engineer: Produces effects using real-world noises or digital sound libraries.
• Voice Actors: Record dialogue, matching lip movements and delivering emotions.
• Sound Mixer: Records, edits, and blends voice recordings, sound effects, and music to make sure everything fits the animation.

Sound Production Supervisors organise recording sessions, which depend on studio resources and schedules.

Special Effects Animation

Acoustic artists add visual effects like wind, clouds, lightning, and explosions for extra impact in dramatic scenes.

Photography and Compositing

The Director of Photography guides camera angles and framing to create atmosphere, based on storyboards. Compositors blend all visual elements—animation, CG, backgrounds, and effects—into final scenes.

Video Editing and Final Polishing

Finally, Video Editors assemble all the pieces: key frames, in-betweens, CG, and backgrounds into the finished product. They:

• Conduct final checks with the director and editors.
• Make necessary edits and apply censorship where required.
• Work closely with the sound team to sync audio perfectly.
• Prepare the anime for broadcast or streaming.

This is the last step before the anime reaches viewers' screens.

Dive Deeper Into Anime Production

If you're fascinated by how anime is made, the series Shirobako is highly recommended. It gives a detailed and entertaining look at the whole production process.

For fans who want to keep up with more insights and news about anime and related topics, you can follow the creator's updates on Instagram.

There are also fantastic soundtrack pieces featured in many anime, like the emotional score from Frieren or iconic tunes from One Piece. Exploring these soundtracks brings another layer of appreciation to how much effort goes into each episode.

Behind every anime is an impressive team of artists, managers, and technicians working carefully for months to create the stories and worlds we love. Understanding the process shows how much detail and coordination it takes to bring these shows to life, making the viewing experience even richer.

Whether you’re a fan interested in animation or just curious about how your favourite series come together, knowing the production process adds a whole new level of respect for this art form.

Enjoy your next anime with a fresh eye for all the work involved!